Ambulance

Michael Bay continues to be a frustrating director with Ambulance. 

Unlike many other critics (many, not all), I think Bay's unique style and distinct" stamp on his films is one of his biggest strengths. Things like gripping intensity, big action scenes, constant movement forward, certain camera angles, and yes...explosions, are all staples of his. 

But his worst tendencies hold him back. For every piece of gripping intensity, there's a goofy, unnecessary script moment. For all the big action scenes and momentum, there's awful editing. Hyper editing that is disorienting and dizzying. And for all the violence and explosions and gunfire, he's never quite grasped when enough is enough. 

Ambulance is a prime example of the frustrations of Michael Bay. For what it's worth, I enjoyed a single viewing of it and Bay, who gets an unfair amount of flak in general, has made worse. But I still get frustrated because I truly believe Ambulance could have been something special with some restraint, instead of something adequate with excessiveness. 

Ambulance follows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Will Sharp. A veteran trying to pay for an undisclosed surgery for his wife, who reconnects with his brother, Jake Gyllenhaal's Danny Sharp to ask for help. Danny follows in their dad's criminal footsteps as a bank robber. Will's search for Danny's help quickly turns into him reluctantly participating in a huge, multi-million dollar score. As you can probably guess with Bay, things go awry and mayhem...ahem...sorry...Bayhem ensues. Bay has a tendency choosing strong casts and Ambulance is no different. Mateen and Gyllenhaal have genuine chemistry and a surprising ability to convey a (adopted) brotherhood. Both performances are above the script they're given, which, by Bay standards isn't all that bad, with Gyllenhaal in particular pushing the character's psyche pretty far in a convincing way. The stress builds and mounts, eating away at Danny who lives in the shadow of his father. Eventually they escape the bank in an ambulance, with an injured cop, and come in contact with Gonzalez's Cam. Gonzalez is the film's heart, for the most part, even if her character arc is a bit messy and unnecessary. Regardless, the trio is a strong one and there's very little issues in the film that are centered around them. 

"And then...the ambulance finds a rocket launcher,
he pulls it out, and BOOM POW WOW!"

"And then...he grabs his bicep.
OMG he's a Transformer.
Yahya transforms into a f**king jetplane!"

And, if we're being honest, there is a really exciting, pulse pounding film within Ambulance. It starts strong, quickly builds intensity and gets into the main "situation", and keeps momentum. There's a lot of things to like with all the admittedly wild, but awesome things going on. The action is still overedited to nauseum - which is a tendency I'm not sure Bay will ever lose - but it's violent and the tension is well crafted. There's been a lot of talk about Bay's newfound "drone" shots which are actually pretty damn cool, BUT often cut way too quickly. Someone better will come along and do this more thoughtfully, but for now they set up a lot of good "LA" vibez by following straight down vertical LA buildings, across LA streets, and more. 

Really my core issue with Ambulance is that this film was a minute over 90 minutes, much less 46 of them. I'll reiterate my "could have been something special" sentiment because there's a great movie hidden within the existing Ambulance we got in theaters. At 2 hours and 16 minutes, Bay starts to wear on you in all the classic ways. There's a completely nonsensical and out-of-left-field Cartel angle while it all builds and begins to feel repetitive with squad after squad of cop cars crashing, saving the cop's life in the ambulance several times over, probably two dozen radio/phone calls between cops and Danny/Will, and a general sense that Ambulance is biding its time, much like the criminals driving the thing. 

If you're not a fan of Michael Bay, Ambulance won't do anything to sway you. If you are, I'm sure you'll find a lot to enjoy here and it is quite an enjoyable one-time view. But Bay is stubborn and while he doubles down on the elements of his craft that make him exciting and unique, he continues to double down equally as much on the elements that need fixing. With a tighter focus, this would have been top-tier Bay. Instead, it's on the upper-middle, frustratingly so. 

CONS

• Lack of restraint that bleeds into an unnecessarily run time. Shouldn't have been a minute over 90...100 if I'm being gracious
• Editing is still a mess. Hyper edited, not even giving the new drone shots time to breathe
• Cartel detour is just...what? So unnecessary
• Handful of WTF script moments. Like Danny having...herpes? Ok?
  

PROS

• Genuinely exciting and pulse-pounding, particularly as we get started with the heist and chase
• Lots of solid footage of the LA area; definitely a love letter (kind of)
• Gyllenhaal and Mateen have solid chemistry and both elevate the script
• Gonzalez holds her own too, serving as the film's heart
• Once it actually gets to the ending, I enjoyed how it wrapped everything up
• Drone shots were neat, just too overedited
• Solid original score when it needs one
• Preposterous in the best of ways that only Bay can achieve 

Rath's Review Score | 6.5/10